‘Waiting’
Manager: F. Javier Gutiérrez
Artists: Víctor Clavijo, Ruth Díaz, Pedro Casablanc, Luis Callejo
Year: 2023
Premiere: 12/14/23
★★★
There’s the parallel reality of Spanish films receiving recognition at festivals (and success with the public and critics passing through those festivals) not corresponding to being forgotten later in awards season. Most of the time (hopefully this is not the case) it doesn’t have results at the box office either. An example is ‘The Wait’, the latest film from F. Javier Gutiérrez, director of the wonderful ‘3 Días’ (2008). It has been shown at numerous festivals, some specializing in the fantasy genre (Sitges, Fantastic Fest), ‘Waiting’ starts like a ‘income‘Rural, raw and latent violence, with a clear seventies spirit. The way it combines referentiality, textures and local iconography somehow references two other great Spanish films: ‘Bosque shadow removers’ (2006) and ‘Tarde para la ira’ (2016).
‘Wait’, which takes place in a town in the Andalusian mountains in the 70s and is about the tragedy that threatens the caretaker of a farm (Víctor Clavijo), has a hard time getting used to it. The visual handwriting of the beginning is very much in thrall to references, and there is a certain rigidity to the rhythm and interpretations. Luckily this doesn’t last long. Once the setting and characters are introduced and the tragedy is activated, Gutiérrez, the author of the script, directs his film to more attractive places. Fundamentally, he devotes himself to fantasy, horror and the supernatural with courage, knowing the facts and making brilliant decisions in terms of text, direction and staging.